Godin speaks out on Suarez elbow

Atletico Madrid defender Diego Godin played down his tussle with Barcelona forward Luis Suarez during Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second-leg clash.

Uruguay team-mates Godin and Suarez have had plenty of battles in the past, but things came close to boiling over when the Barca star appeared to elbow the Atletico defender in a challenge for the ball at the Vicente Calderon.

However, Godin played down the incident, affirming the two remain friends off the pitch after Diego Simeone’s men advanced past the reigning champions 3-2 on aggregate. 

“So that everyone can be calm, with Luis I have a great relationship. We are friends,” the 30-year-old said via Twitter. 

“After the game we spoke, we greeted each other. With the eye, these are things that can happen in football when two players defend their shirt to the death. 

“In the national team we will get together and both fight for Uruguay. Everything is just fine.”

Atletico will face Bayern Munich in the last four of the Champions League, while Barca’s collapse La Liga has brought them right into the title race going into the closing stages of the season.

“The tie [against Bayern] is a hard one. At stake is a nice final and we will give our maximum as always to get through,” Godin added.

“But first we have an important game against [Athletic] Bilbao and we will try to keep giving war and keep fighting for the league.”